Anxiolytics or can prevent deafness caused by common viruses

[ China Pharmaceutical Network Technology News ] Recently, a study on newborn mice showed that anti-anxiety drugs can prevent a common virus from causing birth defects and deafness. Related results were published in the journal Neuroscience.

(There is currently no vaccine against cytomegalovirus. Image source: James Cavallini/SPL)

About 4 out of every 1,000 babies are infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV). The virus can cause epilepsy and mental retardation as well as symptoms like Zika in small head deformities. CMV can also cause deafness. It is usually passed on to the baby during pregnancy. Some babies are born with obvious signs of infection, and some will develop symptoms until later.

An anti-anxiety drug available in France and Italy appears to reduce CMV levels in infected mice. However, it is not clear whether it will have a similar effect on the brain (the site that causes the greatest damage to CMV).

To this end, Anthony Van den Pol and his team from the Yale University School of Medicine in the United States injected a daily dose of penopenamide or a control substance into infected mice. "Phonoxide-injected mice are more likely to survive. They live longer and weigh more - everything looks better about them," Van den Pol said.

Mice receiving vilenamide did not show abnormal social and motor impairment seen in control mice infected with CMV when evaluated in the "adolescent" period. Further experiments in human brain cells known as astrocytes (targets of CMV challenge) have shown that when these cells are treated with valeroamide, the number of viruses present is reduced by one percent.

Although a drug called ganciclovir can be used in some populations to combat CMV, it cannot be used by pregnant women because of the risk of birth defects.

“There is currently no vaccine for CMV. Therefore, it is impossible to protect pregnant women from infection and transfer to unborn babies,” said Ian Humphreys, CMV researcher at Cardiff University in the UK. “The new method is definitely needed.” China)